A total of 16 percent of AT&T customers indicated they would switch to Verizon if it began offering the iPhone, in a survey conducted before this week's CDMA iPhone announcement.

ChangeWave on Thursday released the results of a survey of 4,050 U.S. wireless customers, conducted just before this week's announcement that the iPhone 4 will arrive on Verizon's network Feb. 10. The survey indicates more customers want to leave AT&T than in any other poll dating back to June of 2009.

Of those surveyed who are AT&T customers, 16 percent said they would switch to Verizon if the competing carrier began offering the iPhone. And even without the iPhone factored in, 15 percent of AT&T customers said they would switch wireless providers in the next 90 days.

Solely among iPhone owners, an even higher number -- 26 percent -- said they planned to switch to Verizon to have the iPhone on the rival network.

By comparison, only 4 percent of Verizon Wireless customers said they planned to leave their carrier in the next three months. That was the best in the industry, beating the 10 percent who plan to leave Sprint, and 15 percent who want to ditch T-Mobile.

Of the customers who said they are likely to switch from AT&T, 42 percent said they planned to leave because of poor reception or coverage. Another 27 percent said the reason for their departure would be dropped calls. Just 17 percent said their main concern was the cost of AT&T's service.

ChangeWave said the survey shows that the launch of the Verizon iPhone is likely to have a "major impact" on U.S. wireless service providers. AT&T's exclusive arrangement for the iPhone after it launched in 2007 helped the company narrow the gap with Verizon in terms of total customers.

There was one bright spot in ChangeWave's latest survey for AT&T, as respondents in December indicated they experienced fewer dropped calls on the network. Of those polled, 4.7 percent said they had experienced a dropped call in the last three months, less than the 6 percent who said they had dropped calls in September.

But AT&T's dropped call rate is still higher than Verizon, where just 1.7 percent of customers said they had experienced a dropped call in the last three months.

Last July, a ChangeWave survey prompted AT&T to publish internal dropped call data in an effort to defend its network. AT&T's figures contrasted those reported through the survey.

But ChangeWave also found evidence last August that conditions on AT&T's network were improving, along with the reliability of Apple's iPhone. A survey of iPhone 4 owners found that Apple's latest handset experienced fewer dropped calls than those who own a previous-generation iPhone 3GS.

As a U.S. citizen who owns an iPhone in one of AT&T dead zone areas, I am planing to switch to Verizon at some point, however, I do not intend to do so in February. My hope is that the iPhone 5 is released this summer with LTE. If that is the case then I most likely will make the carrier switch then.

I've been extremely unhappy with AT&T and not just for the lack of an ability to make a call without issue. Their customer service representatives all the way up to the PR reps for the President of AT&T have told me numerous tall tales about improving service in my area and flat out refused to compensate me with a reduced plan rate for the months I've spent in an area only recently finally declared to be a 'non service area' by AT&T.

One thing that I do not like about Verizon already though is the simple fact that they have not released the full sheet of pricing for services to be available on the iPhone, especially the data plan rates. Verizon spent nine months preparing for the iPhone and yet won't reveal the data plan pricing structure. That seems a bit fishy to me.

Of those surveyed who are AT&T customers, 16 percent said they would switch to Verizon if the competing carrier began offering the iPhone. And even without the iPhone factored in, 15 percent of AT&T customers said they would switch wireless providers in the next 90 days.

So the Verizon iPhone has only affect 1% of AT&Ts total user base. I would bet that other phones on Verizon will be much more affected than that.

From most to least affected

Other phones on Verizon

Sprint

T-Mobile

AT&T

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

My hope is that the iPhone 5 is released this summer with LTE. If that is the case then I most likely will make the carrier switch then.

Not going to happen. Note that CES 2011 showed no LTE phones that are as small as the iPhone. Note that the original iPhone has 2G even though 3G on AT&T was much more built out than LTE is now, not to mention the other 4 countries in launched in that year. Note that Apple cares about battery life and performance, not about adding some marketing letters to a spec sheet.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Probably a hundred or so dropped calls (Boston area) since I started on the 3G in June 2008 and no real improvement on the iPhone 4. It's not a phone issue as users in non-congested areas will tell you their iPhone works fine and never drops calls.

AT&T has had time to fix their network issues. They haven't. No confidence they'll be any better in the future.

I expect in NYC, SF and other problem metro areas users will be jumping ship from AT&T in droves.

So in two years I upgrade again to Verizon's LTE iPhone. By then LTE will be ready for prime time. Absolutely don't care about the network speeds, data/voice feature, etc. Just want a phone that won't drop calls every day - and am totally happy with the iPhone except for the AT&T issues.

Never believe what consumers say about their future purchase behaviour.

Quite - they may just be expressing some dissatisfaction fuelled by reading forums such as this one ;-). But whether they will really change provider is a different story. Changing providers is a pain. I know I can get the cost of my plan reduced considerably and yet it has taken me 6 months since discovering this fact to come to the sad realization that I am stupid. Once again. Doh! But really, I will do it soon. Really, I will. Its pissing me off that I pay much more than my brother in law for the same service with less data.

Sorry, but speaking to back end folks, and having to deal with the crap with Verizon's 5 times fraudulently billing me [several hours of phone calls to get them removed] I'll be enjoying the transition.

I am waiting until after AT&T's end of March light up and the June release of OS X and iPhone. It doesn't cost me a dime because I've never upgraded my phone with Verizon, since Jan 2003. I've been out of my contract for a long time.

Is this a poorly presented analysis of the survey or is it just me? I can't tell from the information provided if 16% of all ATT customers or only 16% of ATT iPhone customers claim they will be switching to Verizon; and if they're switching to Verizon, will they be buying an iPhone or something else?

How many of those polled are from NYC or SF? The results could easily be skewed by locations everyone acknowledges are ATT black holes.

I feel sorry for people who get frustrated with bad service, dropped calls, weak signals etc. Probably all the tall buildings in NYC contribute to that. I imagine Verizon and Sprint have their problems in NYC as well.

My ONLY issue with AT&T is over cost. The more companies carrying the iphone and the more competition in general, the better it will be for consumers.
Companies are allowed to make profits of course but $30 a month for text messages, paying for phone minutes I never use (even with rollover provision) and requiring data on iphone plus ipad plus laptop etc is just greed and TOO MUCH!

With all the whinging and moaning that seems to be floating around the internet 16% seems incredibly low.

Therefore one can only come to the conclusion that AT&T's issues are considerably less than what they are made out to be.

I figured as much.

Still, I don't care. I live in New Zealand and Vodafone has great coverage. It's not all-encompassing but it is the majority of the country and considering the lay of the land here in NZ that's pretty good.

Verizon's inability to do basic things like talk while surfing the net seems incredibly backwards. I haven't had that problem since... well around 2003.

I use my iphone 4 for business and personal reasons. For business, I use a few Web Conferencing Apps (AT&T Connect and Cisco Webex). Both are excellent for joining conference calls and for sharing presentations at the same time. I've slam dunked many deals this way. However, both Apps require concurrent voice/data access.

It's also nice talking to customers (and the wife) on the phone and at the same time receiving/sending/reviewing emails from them.

I feel sorry for people who get frustrated with bad service, dropped calls, weak signals etc. Probably all the tall buildings in NYC contribute to that. I imagine Verizon and Sprint have their problems in NYC as well.

My ONLY issue with AT&T is over cost. The more companies carrying the iphone and the more competition in general, the better it will be for consumers.
Companies are allowed to make profits of course but $30 a month for text messages, paying for phone minutes I never use (even with rollover provision) and requiring data on iphone plus ipad plus laptop etc is just greed and TOO MUCH!

Amen to most of your post, except for cost. AT&T and Verizon constitute a monopoly in my humble opinion and we won't see much, if any, reduction in costs.

It is not just the tall buildings of NYC and San Francisco. I live in Pensacola, Florida – a flat, low-lying state. My home is two blocks off the coast in a residential area with plenty of other people nearby, including the Pensacola Naval Air Station, and yet I am lucky to get one or two bars with my iPhone. Before getting a Microcell, the phone often failed to complete calls, dropped nearly half of all calls and had troubles even keeping a signal at all on many days. This despite that fact that I could drive down the road onto the isolated barrier island in the middle of nowhere and get four and five bars and crystal clear service. Plus, the cable company learned that the signal from the iPhones when trying to communicate with the local tower was disrupting their cable modems and forcing them to reset many times a day. Even better shielded coaxial cable was not enough. The cable company had to switch to a different frequency to avoid this issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katonah

I feel sorry for people who get frustrated with bad service, dropped calls, weak signals etc. Probably all the tall buildings in NYC contribute to that. I imagine Verizon and Sprint have their problems in NYC as well.

I live in the Bay Area, and am one of the unfortunate suckers who carries a personal phone (iPhone, obviously on AT&T) and a work phone (has been some form of BlackBerry on Verizon for many, many years).

I drop just as many calls on my Verizon phones as I do on AT&T.

Wireless devices are radios. They will never be without temporary disconnects.

I've been with AT&T ever since they started carrying the iPhone ... of course, I didn't really have the problem of having to switch carriers because I had just moved back from Sweden a few months after the first iPhone came out. Before I lived in Sweden though I had been with Verizon since I'd had a cell phone (my original carrier was LA Cellular who was eventually bought out by Verizon ... that's how long ago it was). I never really had any problem with Verizon, but then again ... I haven't had any problems with AT&T either (I live in the northern costal area of San Diego County).

All of my extended family members in the area all have Verizon, and I find it interesting they always tell me how bad AT&T's network is. They say things like "Oh, well I don't have dropped calls," and I just kind of look at them and say "... neither do I." Then they'll say, "well, I don't have trouble finding coverage," and once again I'll just kind of look at them like "neither do I." And, usually at some point they'll tell me about how slow the AT&T 3G network is, and I'll counter "actually it's twice as fast as Verizon's in most parts of San Diego." Still ... they think AT&T sucks ... their loss I guess.

The point is I must have about seven or eight relatives in the area on the Verizon network who have been saying for a long time now they have been waiting anxiously for the iPhone to be released with Verizon. I have no doubt that as soon as they can get a CDMA iPhone they're going to do it, but I really haven't heard anyone I know who has a GSM iPhone with AT&T say "Oh, I wish I could get an iPhone on Verizon's network." As for myself ... I have no plans of dumping AT&T.

In the end I think most "switchers" will boil down to people who live in areas were AT&T's network isn't as developed as Verizon's ... therefore providing a very understandable reason for switching. If the AT&T network in my area sucked, but the Verizon network were good I would probably switch too (it doesn't though, so there's no real reason). Plus, about the only real feature that would differentiate the Verizon iPhone would be the Hot-Spot function ... and that doesn't appeal to me. I'd much rather have a GSM phone with a SIM tray I can use when I go to Europe (and just put in a local SIM card), and be able to continue using voice and data at the same time. That is a function (voice and data) I use rather often, and I wouldn't like losing that if I switched to Verizon.

I think as both networks roll out their LTE networks, and Apple eventually releases an LTE compatible phone the incentives to stay with either network may change.

I admit this is pathetic on my part, but I can't help but feel some loyalty to AT&T. I really like my iPhone and I don't think I'd have the iPhone if AT&T hadn't been willing to cut a deal with Apple that was far better than what I imagine Verizon would have been willing to cut at the time.

I totally sympathize with the people in NYC and SF who have had terrible experiences with AT&T, and I don't blame that at all for wanting to switch. Where I live, Verizon is better, just not *that* much better.

So I will probably be sticking with AT&T for the foreseeable future out of what I'm sorry to say is little more than lame sentimentality.

Traveling around the nation, I have to say, Verizon rocks. I have a Verizon telephone and an iTouch. That's good enough. Maybe an iPhone on VZ would be great, except I don't want to pay for a data plan. So it will be ~2 years before I can buy a used VZ iPhone.

Never believe what consumers say about their future purchase behaviour.

So true.

Quote:

Originally Posted by solipsism

Not going to happen. Note that CES 2011 showed no LTE phones that are as small as the iPhone. Note that the original iPhone has 2G even though 3G on AT&T was much more built out than LTE is now, not to mention the other 4 countries in launched in that year. Note that Apple cares about battery life and performance, not about adding some marketing letters to a spec sheet.

Agreed. Apple would need a CDMA/LTE phone for Verizon and ATT's LTE network probably wouldn't be built out enough by summer to justify the compromises current LTE handset technology would cost (primarily power consumption). And what about the rest of the world. Is there enough LTE built out in other countries that having an LTE phone would matter?

2011 will be one GSM iPhone and one CDMA iPhone. Even in 2012, will enough of the world's GSM networks be upgraded to LTE to justify an LTE iPhone that could only be used on GSM networks in most places? Would Apple build three models (LTE, GSM, CDMA)? Unlikely. The million dollar question...would Apple ever build at CDMA/LTE phone at all, or will Verizon be stuck on CDMA-only until it's LTE network is built out enough for an LTE-only phone (probably 2013).

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Sorry, but speaking to back end folks, and having to deal with the crap with Verizon's 5 times fraudulently billing me [several hours of phone calls to get them removed] I'll be enjoying the transition.

It's unfortunate you've had a bad experience, but it's not limited to Verizon. I left ATT because of bad billing and outright lies by their CRSs (even had one CSR admit that the last CSR had lied to me) ...on top of the poor reception.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowededwookie

... I live in New Zealand ...Verizon's inability to do basic things like talk while surfing the net seems incredibly backwards. I haven't had that problem since... well around 2003.

Isn't parts of New Zealand covered by a CDMA network? I'm unsure which network. I assume it has the same limitation as Verizon's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psych_guy

Do you have any numbers for your conjecture? Hard data? Facts? I mean you seem to know the rate. Put up or shut up. "Everbody knows that . . . " or "They say . . . " won't cut it here.

Well, if you read the article, the numbers you are asking for where in there: "Of those polled, 4.7 percent said they had experienced a dropped call in the last three months, less than the 6 percent who said they had dropped calls in September."

The last three month of September was the quarter after the iPhone 4 was released. The quarter after that when Apple gave away cases and told everybody to get a case or hold their phone differently, the dropped calls dropped by about 20%. Not conclusive, obviously, but supports the theory.

Traveling around the nation, I have to say, Verizon rocks. I have a Verizon telephone and an iTouch. That's good enough. Maybe an iPhone on VZ would be great, except I don't want to pay for a data plan. So it will be ~2 years before I can buy a used VZ iPhone.

VZ's network doesn't just meet my expectations. It consistently exceeds them, no matter where I happen to be -- urban or rural. ATT's problem is that VZ is so good.

I've never used a single month's limit. I look forward to those rollover minutes.

The fact that you have never used up your regular minutes means that you are paying for more minutes than you can use, so rollover minutes are worthless in your situation. The only time it is useful is if you talk a lot one month in particular so you don't get charged. If you never go over then there is no point.

Sorry, but speaking to back end folks, and having to deal with the crap with Verizon's 5 times fraudulently billing me [several hours of phone calls to get them removed] I'll be enjoying the transition.

I am waiting until after AT&T's end of March light up and the June release of OS X and iPhone. It doesn't cost me a dime because I've never upgraded my phone with Verizon, since Jan 2003. I've been out of my contract for a long time.

I had the same problem with Verizon every month I had to look at the bill for obscure fraudulent charges. Verizon & Sprint go hand in hand for ripping off customers on their bills..Verizon has been ordered to refund millions of customers for fraudulent charges just few months ago. I left them and never looked back.

"Apple people have no objectivity when it comes to criticism of Apple.." Lenovo X1 Carbon is out..bye bye MBAir